Two different groups or people claimed responsibility for attacks on Electronic Arts' login servers and Steam through DDoS attacks.

Electronic Arts' login servers went down late yesterday, taking down Origin and preventing players from playing EA games on various platforms or accessing the storefront due to a DDoS attack. In a different attack, Steam's authentication server and storefront went offline shortly after 11 p.m. for about an hour before returning online and experiencing outages.

A person or online group named DERP asserted on Twitter it had attacked EA's servers. Early this morning, EA's Support Twitter account announced Origin services were available once more. Earlier this week, DERP attacked Dota 2, League of Legends, Club Penguin, and Battle.net as Twitch streamer James "Phantoml0rd" Varga streamed them.

DERP takes no responsibility for the attack on Steam. An individual on Twitter named chFtheCat claimed it and another Twitter account named Larceny_ worked together to take Steam offline. The two later claimed they were attacking Battle.net. The two users targeted Steam because DERP targeted Origin, chFtheCat said. The attack on Steam coincides with the final day of Steam's Winter Sale. Valve has not responded to the attacks on Facebook, Twitter, or Steam support forums. The digital distribution service appears to be functioning without interruptions now as does Steam Community, which was previously unstable.

DDoS attacks violate the terms of service of all internet service providers and are considered illegal in many individual countries.

What's the point of a DDoS attack on Steam when it does it to itself every time there's a major sale or give away?

Steam DDoSed itself when they gave Left 4 Dead 2 away for free, so what would be the point of a DDoS attack during a sale when nobody would know it was a DDoS attack and assume it was what normally happens when Valves servers can't cope?

Seems about as effective as protesting austerity measures by burning large piles of wood on November the 5th.

I never really got why ruining other peoples experience en masse became a popular thing to do if you're bored.

I mean I was on the sidelines when ddos'ing happened to bring awareness to certain business practices and such, but just cause you have a free afternoon and say 'Hey twitter, we're taking requests, what should we take down?'

Have we really slipped that far into being inconsiderate, consequence free assholes?

Elijin:I never really got why ruining other peoples experience en masse became a popular thing to do if you're bored.

I mean I was on the sidelines when ddos'ing happened to bring awareness to certain business practices and such, but just cause you have a free afternoon and say 'Hey twitter, we're taking requests, what should we take down?'

Have we really slipped that far into being inconsiderate, consequence free assholes?

Unfortunately these groups and types of attacks have gone on for as long as there were public websites (and IRC channels to coordinate with). But now with Twitter these kiddies have a soundboard to get public attention and interaction.

We should probably refer to such groups in these articles as "semi-anonymous criminals" rather then actually naming them or linking their contact pages.

This is why Valve doesn't acknowledge them - because they aren't special and shouldn't validated by being called out.

Gaming services going offline is newsworthy, but there's no benefit in acknowledging the sources of the outage for anyone. It doesn't help anyone effected, and only sets the stage for their next announcement.

Isnt there a way for these companies to block these attacks? Origin is a subscriber site, just like Steam. So when they receive an unusual amount of hits, couldnt they just have a program that blocks all non subscribers from getting on the site?

SonOfVoorhees:Isnt there a way for these companies to block these attacks?

In my understanding, no. Not without hindering legitimate traffic to the site.

With Steam, it's only really an issue if you're trying to buy/download/patch a game or to play multiplayer. Every time I've been unable to reach the login servers due to DDOS or maintenence, Steam has automatically given me the option to start in offline mode.

SonOfVoorhees:Isnt there a way for these companies to block these attacks? Origin is a subscriber site, just like Steam. So when they receive an unusual amount of hits, couldnt they just have a program that blocks all non subscribers from getting on the site?

Not really. The server still has to look at the information it's receiving to determine if it's a legit request or not.

Really wish this would get jail time. The government is willing to jail someone for saying a stupid thing on facebook for years, but this is legal? What a joke.

DDOS attacks are so cool! It'll teach "the man" who's boss and also get these guys laid several times over!! [/sarcasm]

In all seriousness though......its getting boring now. Attacks and hacking used to be a big event years ago, now it seems to happen weekly. "X has attacked insert company because of.......for da lolz". If you're going to attack someone then pick a worthwhile target.

I hate whoever did this. Whatever happened to the servers last night rolled back my BF4 stats and multiplayer progress. I lost a couple unlocks for the MBT and progress towards assignments. My rank xp bar is stuck at -91,100/110,000.

erttheking:Oh so that's why I couldn't get on yesterday. Also, for the love of God, DERP again? Do these assholes have nothing better to do?

Why yes they do. Be even bigger assholes. Jeez, haven't you been paying attention? :-)

I hate these kinds of people. Screwing up the fun for everyone else just to get attention. On a slightly related note, this is yet another reason why I'm glad Microsoft decided to keep the Xbox One offline. Could you image how upset people would get if they tried to play a console game and couldn't because some jerk found a way to do something like this?

Oh man, these guys are so annoying. Time for some vigilante justice. I would not advocate violence, but if someone were to cut their physical line for the internet that goes to their house... well no one could really complain about that but them and we would be relieved of at least some stress that is related to them being just general dicks.

Elijin:I never really got why ruining other peoples experience en masse became a popular thing to do if you're bored.

I mean I was on the sidelines when ddos'ing happened to bring awareness to certain business practices and such, but just cause you have a free afternoon and say 'Hey twitter, we're taking requests, what should we take down?'

Have we really slipped that far into being inconsiderate, consequence free assholes?

Unfortunately these groups and types of attacks have gone on for as long as there were public websites (and IRC channels to coordinate with). But now with Twitter these kiddies have a soundboard to get public attention and interaction.

We should probably refer to such groups in these articles as "semi-anonymous criminals" rather then actually naming them or linking their contact pages.

This is why Valve doesn't acknowledge them - because they aren't special and shouldn't validated by being called out.

Gaming services going offline is newsworthy, but there's no benefit in acknowledging the sources of the outage for anyone. It doesn't help anyone effected, and only sets the stage for their next announcement.

In that case, wouldnt it be prudent to not name the groups claiming responsibility in theese articles?

I still can't access my steam inventory, and only barely can occasionally reach steamcommunity.com.I had been trying to trade some snow globe cards to a friend for hours until I finally gave up. So annoying.

Glad I took care of my own card trading last night, but still... this just is "anti-lulz" all around.

Jamash:What's the point of a DDoS attack on Steam when it does it to itself every time there's a major sale or give away?

Steam DDoSed itself when they gave Left 4 Dead 2 away for free, so what would be the point of a DDoS attack during a sale when nobody would know it was a DDoS attack and assume it was what normally happens when Valves servers can't cope?

Seems about as effective as protesting austerity measures by burning large piles of wood on November the 5th.

Honestly that is all I thought it was when I couldn't connect to the steam servers yesterday. This attack was pointless as I was only unable to get access for a couple minutes before I got through.

i was reading on another news site the steam attack was over some dick who plays DOTA2 and streams it egging on people to take down steam if his team looks like loosing.. nothing wrong with inconveniencing and annoying millions of people just because you are loosing at a game

008Zulu:Did they say why they were doing it, or was it because they were born assholes and just grew bigger?

Both: The guys who took down Steam said they did it because they were having a dick-waving contest with Derp (the guys who took down EA). And yes, "for the lulz".

OT: Well this whole thing pisses me off. I was going to treat myself to a copy of Far Cry 3, for otherwise keeping my wallet firmly closed during the sale, and then I could barely even view the damn store page. Hopefully Valve redoes the Encore Sale and temporarily re-activates the cards as a sort of apology (and really, making those things useless after a certain date was a stupid idea to begin with). It would be the best PR thing to do, plus they'd get my $12.

Jamash:What's the point of a DDoS attack on Steam when it does it to itself every time there's a major sale or give away?

Steam DDoSed itself when they gave Left 4 Dead 2 away for free, so what would be the point of a DDoS attack during a sale when nobody would know it was a DDoS attack and assume it was what normally happens when Valves servers can't cope?

Seems about as effective as protesting austerity measures by burning large piles of wood on November the 5th.

The point of DDOS is to deny service. You get bonus points if people blame others for it.

SonOfVoorhees:Isnt there a way for these companies to block these attacks? Origin is a subscriber site, just like Steam. So when they receive an unusual amount of hits, couldnt they just have a program that blocks all non subscribers from getting on the site?

No. There is no defense against DDOS.You cannot indenfity traffic as subscriber or not subscriber unless you login every single connection, which is unworkable. You can either have servers more powerful than the DDOSers can put out or shut down and hope police catch them (since its an actual crime except in germany).

ClockworkUniverse:How has this guy not been arrested yet? I've seen him identified by name and address, and he himself posted his phone number!

assuming one guy could DDOS a server...... Well unless hes using a lot of zombie computers but then by now those computers would be traced down.

Xeorm:Really wish this would get jail time. The government is willing to jail someone for saying a stupid thing on facebook for years, but this is legal? What a joke.

It is not legal (except germany, where court settled it being a legal form of protest) and in some countries is worthy jail time.

I never really got the point of getting on a public forum like Twitter afterwards and publicly bragging about committing crimes.

Really, bragging to your friends in middle school about how you swiped a candy bar might buy you some playground cred, but doesn't the government consider stuff like this terrorism of some sort?

Of course, at least if assholes are going to keep doing stuff like this, it's better if they aren't intelligent assholes.

The mentallity here is that you dont get satisfaction if noone knows its you. Its like that guy that stole a TV during London riots but had to post a picture of it on his facebook page saying he stole it. I agree thought that its good that msot criminals are stupid, makes them easier to be caught.

Baresark:Oh man, these guys are so annoying. Time for some vigilante justice. I would not advocate violence, but if someone were to cut their physical line for the internet that goes to their house... well no one could really complain about that but them and we would be relieved of at least some stress that is related to them being just general dicks.

i hope you are aware of irony here considering they dont really use home itnernet for this.

jackpipsam:I dunno if they think they're hurting EA or not, but they're hurting people who just want to play games.

If you want to attack EA fine, but don't make me suffer for it.

the thinking is "anyone who supports EA by buying their games deserve it".